We invite you to join our Maker Club, which meets every Wednesday from 6 to 9pm, to create cool projects together. We make all sorts of things: wooden pens, buzzers, interactive art, robots, home gadgets, you name it.

This month, our Maker Club includes these new beginner activities:

Make a wooden puzzle using hand tools.

Make a pen on the lathe, to give it a beautiful wood body.

Make fun buzzers to turn on lights and make things move.

Would you like to join us? You are welcome to make any project you like — and we’ll help you with it. If you’d like to try it for a month, we invite you to sign up for our next series of four workshops, starting on Feb. 8. No prior experience required.

To learn more, we hope you’ll come to our free meetup for Tam Makers this Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 6pm at the Tam High School woodshop in Mill Valley. We’ll give demos and talk about our new Maker Club. This is a good opportunity to meet some of our creative members, watch them build things and ask them questions.

No experience necessary. You will join a community of makers who like to create together and learn from each other.

Meetups

To learn more, we invite you to join our next meetup next Wednesday, January 11, from 6 to 7pm. The following meetup will be on February 1 at 6pm.

What’s New This Year

This year, we are experimenting with new ways to serve the Tam Makers community.

Flexible Scheduling

To give you more flexibility, both the Maker Club and the You-Can-Build-It workshops are grouped into concurrent four-week series. And when you sign up for a four-week series, you may exchange You-Can-Build-It evenings for concurrent Maker Club evenings and vice versa. If you want to add just an evening, drop-in is still available at $36. Of course, you can also sign up for both You-Can-Build-It and Maker Club.

Crossover Projects

We encourage makers and woodworkers to combine a range of technologies. Here are examples of projects that would make use of both the You Can Build It program and the Maker Club. If you are creating a wooden box in ‘You Can Build It’, you can also make it come to life with lights, motion and sound. If you want to make a picture frame, you can use our mat cutter to mount it, or our laser cutter to engrave it. You can use the Sketchup 3D software to design your woodworking projects. Or If you are building a game board with wood, you could complement it with 3D printed game pieces.

Tool Verification

Since participants will be using equipment in the shop on Maker Club nights and the Maker Club instructor may not be directly monitoring the woodshop, it has become necessary to have a well-defined tool authorization system. We are looking for a volunteer to help us design and implement this tool verification system. Please email us at info@tammakers.org if you would like to learn more.

Instructors

We are looking for new instructors to help teach our classes and workshops. Instructors will be compensated as employees of the Tam High District’s Community Education program (pay is $25-$30 per hour. of contact time). Candidates should also want to be involved in our community and help promote our programs. Please email us at info@tammakers.org if you would like to learn more.

We hope to see you at next week’s meetup on January 11 to discuss all this in person.

For now, we invite you to sign up for classes that interest you — and spread the word in your community. We invite you to forward this email to friends and neighbors.

Sign up here for our first monthly series of four Wednesdays, starting Aug. 31. The cost is $100 for 4 classes, including some basic materials.

No experience necessary. You will join a community of makers who like to make things together and learn from each other.

Laser Cutting

Learn to fabricate objects with a laser cutter!

This course includes a quick run-through of software applications to create your designs for laser cutting (e.g.: Adobe Illustrator). You will then learn to operate our laser cutter and make your designs come to life. We will provide materials for you to cut and engrave. Learn more here.

Sign up here for this 2-part course on Wednesdays August 31 and September 7, from 6 to 9pm. The cost is $86 for 2 classes, including materials. No experience necessary.

Arduino 101

Create interactive experiences with the popular Arduino board!

This course will show you how to build simple interactive objects with an Arduino micro-controller, used by millions of makers around the world. You will learn how to make lights blink, play sounds, and move things. Learn more here.

Sign up here for this 2-part course on Wednesdays September 14 and 21, from 6 to 9pm.

The cost is $158 for 2 classes, including your own Arduino board and electronic parts, which you can take home with you (a $52 value). No experience necessary.

Maker Art: Haunted House

In this fun after-school class for ages 10 to 15, students will build a miniature Haunted House with animated characters, then bring it to life with motion, lights and sounds.

Each student will have their own room in our haunted house, and will learn to build simple robots, then program an Arduino board to make their creations come alive.

This hands-on activity will help them develop a range of skills: science, technology, engineering, art and math skills (STEAM); creative expression, communication, storytelling and teamwork. Learn more here.

Sign up here for this 8-week class, which will take place on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30pm, starting September 28 and ending November 16, 2016.

The cost is $325 per student, including $75 in materials. Students can take their creations home, as well as their own Arduino board.

Youth Classes

Students will build magical worlds with ghosts, witches and other animated creatures — and bring them to life with lights, sounds and motion.

Learn more about these and other fall courses in our Classes page. Be sure to sign up early, before they fill up!

Most classes start at 6pm (except for the youth classes, which start at 3:30pm.) All classes and meetups take place in our new makerspace at Tamalpais High School: 700 Miller Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941. See map.

Our next meetup

It’s fun, free and a great way to meet some of the creative makers in our community!

We’ll start at 6pm with tours of our makerspace and demos by community members (you’re welcome to bring and show off your own maker projects). At 6:30pm, we will talk about our fall classes, volunteering and next steps for Tam Makers. At 7:30pm, we will make something fun together and plan a community project for Halloween.

If you plan to come, please RSVP here. Next month’s meetup will be on a Friday, September 23, from 6 to 9pm. If you missed our last meetups, here are the photos, slides and video.

Survey results are in!

To learn what our community thinks of Tam Makers, we ran an online survey from June 9 to August 6, 2016, asking a variety of questions about their interests and our maker programs.

Here are our key findings:

All respondents are interested in Tam Makers.

Most want to use the makerspace (87%).

Most are interested in adult classes (83%).

Many want community meetups (57%).

Many would consider paying a membership fee (58%).

Some are prepared to volunteer for Tam Makers (50%).

Some parents are interested in our youth programs (35%).

Here are some of the comments you shared with us:

“Thrilled to have a maker space on this side of the bridge!”

“An excellent idea. Wonderful use of the school as a community resource.”

“It definitely has a community feeling, unlike more commercially motivated makerspaces.”

This free meetup starts at 6pm with tours of our makerspace and demos by community members (bring your new maker projects for show & tell). At 7pm, we will talk about our fall classes and memberships — and discuss your ideas for growing our community.

If you can’t make it next week, we hope you can come to next month’s meetup, on Wed. August 24th.

If you missed our last meetup, here is a video of the event, with our full presentation and discussion about Tam Makers. For a quick overview, check out the meetup slides and photos. It was a blast to meet so many creative makers from our community!

Our first maker classes

Our first maker classes this month have gone really well, as shown in these pictures:

On the first night, we can help you pick a project, order your materials and learn a new skill, like soldering. You will build your project the following weeks, with guidance from instructors and other participants.

No experience is necessary. You will join a community of makers who like to make things together and learn from each other.

We invite you to share this post with friends and neighbors, who are all welcome to join us. They can learn more on our site at TamMakers.org .

We hope to see you soon!

Geo Monley

Fabrice Florin

]]>Tam Makers is off to a great start!http://www.tammakers.org/2016/06/09/off-to-a-great-start/
Thu, 09 Jun 2016 15:16:15 +0000http://www.tammakers.org/?p=424Continue reading "Tam Makers is off to a great start!"]]>

We had a blast at our first meetup for Tam Makers, our new makerspace in Mill Valley!

Dozens of community members joined our open house at the Tam High wood shop yesterday, and it was a delight to meet so many of you. Thanks for showing off your work, signing up for classes and sharing your ideas!

We already have a wonderful and diverse community of makers, artists, technologists and woodworkers — as well as some very creative high school and middle school students.

Here is more info about these classes and events. We hope to see you there!

Arduino 101

Learn to create interactive objects with the popular Arduino board!

This course will show you how to build simple interactive systems with an Arduino micro-controller, used by millions of makers around the world. You will learn how to make lights blink, play sounds, move things — and bring it all together to create a fun interactive experience.

This 3-part course will be on Thursdays, June 16, 23 and 30, between 6 and 8pm. The cost is $160 for 3 classes. Arduino boards and electronic parts are included, and you can take them home with you at the end of the course (a $50 value). No experience is necessary.

You will develop a range of maker skills, from design to electronics, maker art and light woodworking. And you will join a community of makers who like to make things together and learn from each other.

This workshop will be on Wednesdays, June 29, July 6 and 13, between 6 and 9pm. The cost is $72 for 3 nights — or $36 per night on drop-in basis.

No experience is necessary. If you have already taken our Arduino or laser cutting courses, you can also use those tools to enhance your interactive experience.

Welcome Meetup

To hear more about Tam Makers and our other classes, please come to our Welcome Meetup on Wednesday, June 8 at 6pm.

During this free event, we will show you our makerspace, talk about our first maker classes and discuss your ideas for growing our maker community together.

The shop will open at 6pm, with quick tours of our wood shop and computer lab, as well as demos of recent projects. At 7pm, we will present the Tam Makers initiative and host a group discussion afterwards. We’ll then network informally and get to know each other, before wrapping up at 9pm.

Would you like to hear more about our new Tam Makers community center for adults and youth in Mill Valley?

If so, we invite you to join our Welcome Meetup on Wednesday, June 8 at 6pm, in the wood shop at Tam High School.

During this free event, we will show you our makerspace, talk about our first maker classes and discuss your ideas for growing our maker community together.

The shop will open at 6pm, with quick tours of our wood shop, makerspace and computer lab, as well as demos of recent projects. At 7pm, we will present the Tam Makers program and host a group discussion until 8pm. We will then network informally and get to know each other, before wrapping up at 9pm.

This should be a fun evening for anyone interested in our local maker community. This first meeting is geared toward adults, but some of our high school and middle school students will show off their creations as well.

We will meet at the Wood shop at Tam High School, 700 Miller Ave, Mill Valley, CA. Here are quick directions to our space: Exit Highway 101 onto East Blithedale. Turn left on Camino Alto, then right on Miller. Make a left U-turn at the first intersection, go back on Miller, turn right on Gomez, then left into Tam High. Drive slowly, take a right turn uphill and park.

We have hosted a popular adult woodworking program at Tam High for many years. We now want to expand that program with new maker activities — and are starting this summer pilot to develop it together. We would like this community project to be more than a series of classes offered by a few instructors, and we invite your active participation.

Learn more at TamMakers.org, where you can already sign up for our first classes and workshops.

You are welcome to share this invitation with your friends and neighbors.

Join our meetups

Our community meetups run from 6 to 9pm in our makerspace at Tam High School (see address below). Adults and teens welcome. If you missed our last meetup, here are photos and slides of this event, as well as the video of our presentation and group discussion.

Sign up for classes

This fall, we are offering a wide range of classes for adults and youth: from Arduino to laser cutting, hand tools, wood turning and how to make elegant boxes, to name but a few.

Learn more in our Classes page, where you can sign up for these classes before they fill up.

All adult classes start at 6pm. Teens can also sign up for these classes, with the help of an adult.